Since its inception, the petroleum industry has transported crude to centrally located, high technology refineries at an ever-increasing transportation cost to crude producers. These protracted transportation procedures also result in long turnaround times in transforming the crude to final product.
During a national emergency, refinery facilities are prime targets for destruction. A readily mobile refinery would be a target difficult to find during evasive maneuvers.
One attempt to transport the fractionation unit to the site is disclosed in French Patent No. 805,287 issued to Gazagene, et al. This patent discloses a batch type wine distillation process or still mounted on a railroad car. U.S. Pat. No. 1,764,190 issued to Bell, U.S. Pat. No. 2,901,406 issued to Kirshenbaum, et al. and U.S Pat. No. 1,871,148 issued to Vrewster, disclose the cycling of vapor from a preceding column to the next to effect the distillation. None of the cited references disclose the mounting of a plurality of fractionation vessels on a railroad car for connection together.